One sunny day, art historian Sophie Richard was enjoying a “designated shopping day” in Tokyo’s Daikanyama area when she stumbled across the Kyu Asakura House, a small museum hidden among 150 maple trees that was built in 1919 for a Japanese politician. Read More »

As the designer of the first emoji for cellphones, Shigetaka Kurita periodically fields requests that he expand the lexicon of the pictogram-like characters. Ranging from symbols for food items like a “hot dog” to more forthright images such as a “middle finger,” the requests for new emoji reflect people’s growing reliance on emoji for injecting emotion and mood into a short e-mail or text message. Read More »

The 56 year-old Japanese architect, winner of this year’s prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, is known for creating structures using discarded plastic crates and inexpensive tree trunk-sized recycled paper tubes. He has become the world’s go-to architect for innovative post-calamity rebuilding. Read More »

Yakult Honsha Co., which makes a yogurt-like food from fermented milk, said Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency under which pots of Yakult are set to boldly go where no Yakult has gone before–the International Space Station. Read More »

As a member of Taiwan’s Seediq tribe, Umin Boya was taught at an early age that bravery is not only encouraged, but demanded. This instilled tenacity in the 36 year-old actor-turned-director and helped him carve a niche in Taiwan’s movie industry. It also serves as the premise for his latest movie, “Kano.” Read More »